I have a 10kv 23ma ignition transformer.

Apparently the way to make a jacob's ladder is to just connect the electrodes to the secondary, plug the primary into the wall, and call it good.

But of course, as a transformer this thing has no current limiting, and I have no way to calculate the effective resistance of the arc. (I'm guessing a theoretically perfect transformer has no current limiting, but a real life one probably might limit current in some manner I am not familiar with, magnetic saturation, etc, but I'm guessing also this is not the "correct" way to limit current when designing a circuit)

What's the best way to limit current here? I can use a power strip that will trip at 1800 watts, but this thing will draw 230 watts at the max of the spec.

Do I just fuse it at, say, 0.5 amp on the primary side and use a slo blow to avoid blowing the fuse on the inrush?

Or do I use a single resistor on one half of the secondary side to limit the current?

Or use a variac on the primary side along with a killawatt meter to measure the current draw as I turn up the voltage?

What's the correct approach here?

Yes, I have worked with HV before and I understand this thing will kill me easily, I have built plenty of woodburners with scrap MOT, etc and I know how to handle HV.

I have a 10 kV 23 mA ignition transformer.

Apparently the way to make a jacob's ladder is to just connect the electrodes to the secondary, plug the primary into the wall, and call it good.

But of course, as a transformer this thing has no current limiting, and I have no way to calculate the effective resistance of the arc. (I'm guessing a theoretically perfect transformer has no current limiting, but a real life one probably might limit current in some manner I am not familiar with, magnetic saturation, etc, but I'm guessing also this is not the "correct" way to limit current when designing a circuit)

What's the best way to limit current here? I can use a power strip that will trip at 1800 W, but this thing will draw 230 W at the max of the spec.

Do I just fuse it at, say, 0.5 A on the primary side and use a slo blow to avoid blowing the fuse on the inrush?

Or do I use a single resistor on one half of the secondary side to limit the current?

Or use a variac on the primary side along with a killawatt meter to measure the current draw as I turn up the voltage?

What's the correct approach here?

Yes, I have worked with HV before and I understand this thing will kill me easily, I have built plenty of woodburners with scrap MOT, etc and I know how to handle HV.